A day at the beach

I went back to the beach today. The sun was out and it was amazing! Despite the beautiful sun shining high in the sky the wind was insane. There are gusts of about 22mph today so it feels very cold out there on the wide open ocean. The sun is staying up much later than it was just a few short weeks ago. The sun is still out when I walk home from school and while I make dinner. It starts getting light out a lot earlier too. It is great to see the sun again. 3 hours of sunshine weren't enough especially because we went several days with 100% cloud cover. I made it through the darkest days of the year! It wasn't that horrible either. The darkness brought out the bright stars and northern lights. Every cloud has a silver lining!

Standardized Testing

I don't know who had the brilliant idea to give kindergarten children standardized tests, especially on the computer. My kids can't read the question or the answers. They don't know how to use a mouse. They can't read the tiny button at the bottom of the screen that says "Go on". Who made this test?! If the test was on a touch screen or an iPad that would be better. If the continue button was a big green sparkly arrow like on StarFall they would know what to do. If we took the test as one big group and I read the question to them all that would be better. Who makes standardized tests for 5 year olds? Every two seconds someone has a question or they froze the computer. They don't listen to the directions and they choose answers based on what they like or think is pretty or cool. Horrible experiences were had in that computer lab the last two days. It was 98 degrees in there and I was constantly fixing computers. Stupid waste of instructional time. 

The best present I could give

The only thing that I wanted for Christmas was to be able to go home to Minnesota. In November I was lucky enough to book a trip home. I got on the plane late Sunday night before Christmas. I rode between two unhappy children to Anchorage while their parents were passed out across the aisle. In Anchorage I slept on the fabulous concrete floor for a little bit before finding a slightly more comfortable bench to sleep on until my flight took off Monday morning before dawn. I dozed happily almost the entire 5 hour flight from Anchorage to St. Paul waking up when we crossed the state line from North Dakota to Minnesota. I was able to keep my trip a secret from my parents the entire time. It is difficult tricking my mom but I was smart and fooled her into thinking I was feeling under the weather. I even took a few photos after going for walks outside when my cheeks were rosy so my mom would think I had a fever. I sent her a few pics early Monday morning before boarding my plane to give me an excuse for not talking to her all day while I was actually flying. When I landed I had an anxious Joey waiting for me to take me home to my family. I walked in the door and my dad's face was priceless. His confusion and inability to speak made it amazing when I walked into the bathroom to find my mom getting ready for Christmas Eve with the family. She practically jumped out of her skin when she saw me. There was screaming and crying and hugging and squeezing. It was absolutely perfect! No one was quite as surprised as she was. It was a great gift. 
While I was home I did A LOT of shopping. I got shoes and clothes and food and toys. I went to Target (oh how I missed Target!) and the mall and MOA and IKEA. I saw so many people and ate so much food. I couldn't stop myself from eating basically everything because even though I cook a lot in Nome I know I do not make such delicious meals as I was eating in Minnesota. I went out in Minneapolis with friends and played games and walked my dogs. I visited Kevin and one of my favorite NHL players too. I saw my dear friend from Albert Lea and of course I spent time with my bestie finally. I got to sleep in my own bed and nothing is better than showering at home with excellent water pressure! Ten days flew by extremely fast and I did find myself missing Nome when I was overwhelmed with the hustle and bustle of the populated life. My mom got to take off early from work my last day home to go out to lunch with me and help me finish the last of my errands. I went home with one suitcase and a carry on duffle bag. Going to my Nome home I had two suitcases, a large rubbermaid tote, and my duffle bag. I had roughly 175 lbs of luggage coming back to Nome with me. I definitely do not travel lightly! 
I made it home and back on 4 planes with lots of great times had in Minnesota. I didn't panic or get sick, I am becoming a frequent flyer! I slept in the airport twice but I don't mind because I got to see my mom and dads faces when I walked in the door. The best gift I ever gave them I do believe! Now I am waiting for them to venture to Nome! 


One thing I do regret....getting bed bugs from sleeping on airport benches!

Break

Attempting to teach children anything in the last week was completely pointless. They all know that Santa is coming and that presents are appearing at their houses and that is all they want to talk about. If the words Santa or Christmas didn't come out of my mouth they were definitely not listening. We did a lot of crafts in the last week for the blessed holiday that gets them so amped up. We had our holiday musical program that went surprisingly well considering they are a rowdy bunch of 5 year olds this year. We saw the production of How the Grinch Stole Christmas that is put on each year by the older grades at school which was also precious. Friday was PJ day at school thanks to my wonderful idea. Santa also came to school on Friday and we were released at 12:30 for the holiday break. A much needed holiday break. The week was horrendous. The children were like a bunch of wild animals. I think at one point during the week I witnessed them playing something closely resembling rugby in our classroom. They formed a huddle, a scrum if you will, and were just pushing each other back and forth and not gaining any ground in either direction. The oddest thing to witness but no one got hurt and there was no crying so that was good! I slept the long afternoon of free time away on Friday and didn't do much yesterday either. I cleaned the tub and took a nice long soak with aromatherapy bath salts to clear up my stuffy nose and relax my muscles. I took another bath today and lounged around with Olive all afternoon. The day seemed horribly long and never ending and now it is 2:22am and I am sleepless and restless. I may need to take a hot shower to get myself to sleep. Nome sweet Nome, let me sleep through the night please!

White out

After a delightful weekend of sunshine and good weather, the blizzard has hit. I have been told this is nothing compared to the possibilities that may soon come upon us here in Nome, but there is definitely some thick snow blowing through town. This is some blizzard of 91' kind of snow! I live a block from school and I couldn't see school this morning. It is icy wind and big flakes of snow. We have school though! The plows were running all night and I turned on our faucets in the middle of the night to make sure our plumbing didn't freeze. My bedroom window is frozen with the latch unlocked so I am hoping I go home and my window is still closed and my room isn't full of snow. Our entry this morning was full of snow. I never feel air seeping in under the door but the snow sure found a way overnight! The kids had a great time at recess of course and I am thinking I might snowshoe with Kamik later :) I will be wearing my full length down parka to keep my bottom warm! 

Last night was the glorious cheerleader dinner at our house. I made some tastey treats and the girls loved everything. Even the picky eater (worse than me picky) ate my food! They said it was delicious and I know I made my mama proud. They ate all my cookies, most of my buffalo chicken dip, and almost all of my chicken. As usual I made a lot a lot of pasta salad so there is plenty left over to eat for a while. Yum yum! Nothing was burnt and everything came out on time to feed these hungry girls!

 Crazy cheer girls eating my lemon pepper chicken

 I think that is a cookie in her mouth

 Pasta salad before I added the pasta

 Before the baking began. Cream of chicken soup with water and lemon juice. Sprinkle in coarse ground black pepper. Add chicken breast with lemon zest. Lemons placed on top.

Making cookies with Kamik

School spirit

As a former dancer (I still consider myself to be a dancer even though I haven't danced in three years) I pride myself in my strong dislike of cheerleaders. Somehow I am living with a former cheerleader who is also the new cheer coach for highschool and have been forced to partake in cheer things. I have watched painful hours of cheer routines and been involved with many cheer conversations. UGH. This weekend was the first basketball game of the season. The mighty Nanooks played Friday and Saturday night. First basketball game means first appearance of the cheerleaders. I showed my support for my roomie and her team. I went to a basketball game and watched cheerleading. The two sports I loathe most, even though I do not consider cheering a sport! I put a smile on my face, packed my knitting, and went to the game. I have not been to a basketball game since high school when I danced at them during half time. 3 hours of basketball was way to much for me to handle. I was nice and sat through it all. I even video taped some of the cheer routines and took some photos of the girls with their coach. I wore blue and white to support the Nanooks too. Between all the "excitement" I finished my knitting project. I successfully knit purl a washcloth and I think it turned out pretty good! No added stitches this time :) The Nanook varsity basketball team won their first game even though it was a little rough. Literally, I thought that maybe I was watching rugby or wrestling for a little bit. The boys were all over the floor fighting for the ball. Craziness! I have never seen a highschool basketball game so packed either. Everyone lines up on the court for the team to come out and they get high fives like they are celebrities. The entire bleachers were full of screaming fans that stand until the Nanooks score for the first time, which took a painful 5 minutes. It was definitely the event of the season. I suppose since they don't have hockey in Nome basketball is their only chance to get rowdy in public for sports. 

Tomorrow we are hosting a dinner for the cheerleaders. Since my roomie doesn't exactly cook anything except pizza rolls and macaroni I agreed to cook the meal. 10 cheerleaders and me...it is going to be a long night. I am making buffalo chicken dip for an appetizer, pasta salad, lemon pepper baked chicken breast, and white rice. I baked chocolate chip cookies tonight for desert tomorrow. Don't worry mom, I didn't burn anything! I'll let you all know how it goes! Wish me luck :) 

Be jolly

We have 6 full days of school left and one half day of school until Christmas break! Then I have two glorious weeks off and I am excited. I am thinking that the last Friday we have at school should be a pajama day since my mommy just sent me some sweet new pj pants! But which ones should I wear? Kitty cat pants or monkey pants? Difficult choice. Before our holiday break however we have a holiday concert at school for kindergarten. Oh my goodness if we can get through the concert that would be fantastic. We have a rowdy bunch of kindergarteners this year. They hardly stand still long enough to sing the songs and really do not follow along as a group. It is chaotic. We are making these big banners to hang from the gym ceiling to decorate for the holidays. I have decided that I want Paul Bunyon on our banner so I drew a fabulous picture of him today. I think my kids will each make a decorated pine tree to add to the banner as well since I made Paul all by myself. I was pretty proud of myself for sketching him out this afternoon.

Pretty awesome right?! 
Here are my pretty fabulous gifts from my mommy and daddy

It has also been snowing in Nome the last few days! I am so excited. I actually have a reason to wear my boots and snowpants! I might even be able to snowshoe soon :D